


A Moment of Miscommunication

by Guardian_of_Hope



Series: Search, Rescue, & Retrieval, the Clones Era [8]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Gen, Miscommunication, Rescue Mission, Trouble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-11-29 08:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11436936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_of_Hope/pseuds/Guardian_of_Hope
Summary: Jedi Knight Kara Saje and her new commander, Saneone, are trying to make it work, but apparently they're speaking the wrong language.





	1. Meetings

The best thing about their space station was that Kara had her own office, a small conference room, a squadron briefing room, and even a space large enough to fit the entire 425th in for a briefing.  The double helix shaped station was big enough that an entire quadrant of the station had been retrofitted as training space for the men, and there were enough barracks for three battalions, much less Kara’s fifty-member company.

Today, Kara’s meeting was limited to Saneone, Zip, Screech, Swoop, and Blaze.

Saneone proved himself to be one of the clones who preferred to shave his head, instead, his scalp had been tattooed at the back with the words ‘I am Saneone’.  Tiny had told Kara in private that the four clones Saneone had brought with him had ‘If found, return to Saneone’ on their arms.  Kara hadn’t managed to see the four with their arm bare, so she couldn’t say for sure it was true, but given that they were apparently named Mischief, Mayhem, Imp, and Chaos, she wasn’t going to discount the story.  He also seemed to be slightly rumpled at all times, although never in a way that Kara could point out as a problem.

As if in response, Zip seemed to have buttoned down, scrupulously keeping his hair cut tight and close, his uniform neat.  Other than that, Zip seemed to get along with Saneone well enough, although Kara didn’t have the sense that they would spend their off-duty hours playing sabacc or limmie together.

“All right,” Kara said when they were all seated, “word from Coruscant is that we’re getting two additional squads from Kamino, they’ll be here in three days.  Saneone, that’s for you.  Get the shine knocked off before we take them into the field.  Also, here is the new priority list of retrievals.  I want to start reconnaissance missions before we head there to retrieve the artifacts.”

“The men can handle retrieval,” Saneone said.

“No, they can’t,” Kara replied, “these artifacts are kept in vaults that require the Force to open, and some of the artifacts can only be moved by a Force sensitive being.  What I need is to know the state of the worlds we’ll visit, and have an idea of what to expect when I can go.”

“Understood sir,” Saneone said promptly.

Kara considered her notes, and then looked at her commander, judging his expression.  “I’m about to ask you to do something that may be difficult for you to understand,” Kara said softly.  “I need to keep you out of the field for a few weeks.  We’re supposed to start getting more squads and while we need to continue bolstering the company we have, we’re going to need a second company.  Alsaiir is the example, if we had a second company at our disposal, we’d have stood a better chance of evacuation earlier than we did.  Not to mention in situations like Javor where we had to fight a battle and do search and rescue.  I want you to work on creating the groundwork for that company.”

“Do we have that kind of time?”  Saneone asked.

“We’re making the time,” Kara said pointedly.

“Captain make sure you give Saneone a rundown of our rescue procedures when you have time,” Kara continued.

“Yes sir,” Zip said he nodded slightly to Saneone, “I’m at your convenience sir.”

“Lieutenant Swoop, have you an update on the fighters and gunships?”  Kara asked.

“Yes sir,” Swoop said, “we received half of our order already, enough ships to field a second squadron, and enough gunships to cover the new troops as well.  I’ve been informed that the other half will be ready soon.  Our current predicament is having the pilots to use them.”

Kara nodded, “Noted, I’ll talk to a few people.  Lieutenant Screech?”

“The new medical supplies are eighty-five percent useful,” Screech replied. “That’s two percent better than the last resupply, but below the agreed acceptable range.  We currently have four troopers still in bacta, and two recovering from that flu.”

They all winced slightly at the reminder of the two-day flu they had picked up in the course of their last mission.   “Keep the lists up to date for me,” Kara said.  “Sergeant, anything to add?”

Blaze regarded her a moment, “Just that the men would like to extend their appreciation for the jet packs, but would also appreciate it if you joined in some of the training exercises, to encourage battle readiness.”

“I’ll make time,” Kara promised.  “Any other business?”

“No sir,” the five men said in near unison.

“Excellent,” Kara stood, “Commander, I expect to see the reconnaissance schedule on my desk by tomorrow afternoon.  Everyone, dismissed.”

The five men saluted and left, leaving the door open behind them.  Kara settled back into her seat as she used her datapad to forward relevant information to the officers under her command.

“Captain,” Commander Saneone said.  Kara hesitated a minute, then went back to work.

“Commander?” Zip replied carefully.

“May I ask why Sergeant Blaze was included in the briefing?”  Saneone asked.

“Because Blaze heads up Knight Squad,” Zip said.

“That is the General’s battle guard, yes?”  Saneone asked carefully.

“Yes,” Zip said.

“Is that not the General’s command?”  Saneone said.

“Permission to speak freely sir?”  Zip asked finally.

“Granted,” Saneone said, startled.

“Look, it’s the General’s decision who attends what meeting, not mine and not yours.  If you want to ask those kinds of questions, go right ahead, but remember, General Kara hasn’t asked questions either, like why those four demons of yours aren’t assigned to a squad yet.  You want to question the General’s actions and decisions, that’s your choice, but remember, at the end of the day, she does still rank you, and General Kara has her own ways of making sure you know it.  Now with your permission, I have drills to oversee.”

“Dismissed Captain,” Saneone said slowly, almost thoughtfully.

Kara leaned over her datapad, focusing on reading one of the reports appended to the retrieval list.  It was likely to be her next mission, after all.  Besides, she very seriously doubted that Saneone wanted her to know that he doubted her.  It did make her curious to know about his unit, if even Zip was referring to them as demons.

Even Chip had been emphatic but reticent on the matter of Saneone’s unit, informing her pointedly that the quartet did not, in fact, have names, but rather came with a warning label.

Once she was sure that Saneone had cleared the area, Kara got up and headed back to her office.  Her fingers were starting to twitch, and that couldn’t mean anything good was on the horizon.

After nearly two hours of trancing drawing Kara finally found what she was looking for.  Zip, clinging to a clone, she thought it was Kane, on a speeder.  His armor was cracked and bloody.  He was still alive, but she knew it was close.  Too close.

The chime on her door went off and Kara quickly saved the drawing in a password locked folder, “Enter,” she called.

Saneone came in with a datapad, “Sir, do you have a moment to discuss those recon schedules?”

“Sure,” Kara said.

Saneone gestured to the door, “I tried earlier, but there wasn’t an answer.”

Kara pressed her lips together, “I’m sorry, I was meditating.  Usually if I don’t answer, that’s why.”

“Oh,” Saneone said.

“I see visions,” Kara said, “sometimes, they’re stronger than others.  With the war, it seems like I’m always aware of something.  If what I see is pertinent to our mission, I’ll let you know.”  She rested her hands on her desk and smiled at Saneone, “So tell me what you’re thinking with the recon missions.”

Saneone took a seat and said, “I’ve already dispatched six pilots on a fly by.”

Kara closed her eyes, reminded herself she couldn’t get angry, opened her eyes, and said, “You did _what?”_

Saneone started, “These six are marked priority, I sent pilots out in fighters to recon them.”

“Do you know how many pilots we have?”  Kara said.

Saneone hesitated.

“We have, at this moment, ten.  Ten pilots who are trained and rated for combat.  You have sent over half of them away.”  Kara forced herself to swallow, to keep from blowing her mind.  “Maybe you missed the purpose of this unit.  We are _primarily_ search and rescue.  We’re to be on call for search and rescue missions.  Retrieval missions are secondary, and only to be done when we’re in a downswing.  You just managed to cut down our effectiveness in our primary mission.”

Kara took a deep breath, “Now, I understand that I put recon under your purview, and I’m not going to take that away from you, so long as you remember next time not to take all the damn pilots.”

Saneone nodded, “I understand sir.”  He bit his lip and looked down, then back up, “We’re none of us combat pilots, but my brothers and I are trained as pilots.  We missed the cut off for the pilot training.  We can fly shuttles though.”

Kara eyed him for a moment, then nodded, “We get a call out before your recon missions are through and I will take advantage of that.  In the meantime, two pilots at a time until we can pry some more out of Command, understand?”

“Yes sir,” Saneone said.

“And get with Zip to get a break down of what men we do have,” Kara said, “to prevent these kinds of mistakes from happening again.”

“Understood,” Saneone said, standing up.

Kara watched him leave and when the door was shut she put her head down on her desk.  She was trying to get along with Saneone, but it was like beating her head on one of the station walls sometimes.  He rarely spoke to her, but she’d heard way too many comments about her command style, phrased as questions.  It was probably because Kara didn’t look much older than the clones, and the fact that she’d been a knight for less than a year wasn’t exactly a secret.  He doubted her, and was worried about her abilities in a fight.  Kara didn’t think Saneone had quite internalized the part where they were not a combat unit and she wasn’t sure how to explain that to him.

The door chimed and then slid open, revealing Blaze, “Word from Coruscant,” he announced.

“Another rescue?”  Kara said standing up.

“Another rescue,” Blaze said.

“Kriffing hells,” Kara said.  “Tell Saneone that his brothers had better damn well be able to pilot for us and tell Zip to get everyone on the _Retrieval._   I’ll contact Command once we’re launched.”

“Yes sir,” Blaze said.  “Zip was there when we got the call, so he’s moving, but I’ll track down the Commander.”

“Thank you,” Kara said.  “Also, new order, keep me from punching Saneone while we’re in the field, please.  I just got this feeling that he’s got a punchable face.”

“I’ll do my best” Blaze promised with a salute, and then left.

It was almost a comfort to be back on the _Retrieval_ , Kara had to refrain from sighing or making any comments about homecoming as she and Zip met up outside the communications room.  They stepped inside while the communications being called up the link to Coruscant.

“Knight Saje,” Master Mundi said, “thank you for your prompt response.  A strike team from the 138th and their general has crashed on Thesme and need retrieval.  We’ve estimated that a total of seven shuttles were forced down on the planet.”

Kara nodded, “Who is the General for the 138th?”

“Lyzander Johannason sintu Millarson,” Master Mundi said, “an Amaranth Jedi Knight.”

“I assume the appropriate information is being sent?”  Kara asked.

“Yes,” Master Mundi said.

Kara bowed, “Then we will enter hyperspace shortly and see about rescuing General Johannason.”

“Please do,” Master Mundi said, “are you familiar with General Johannason?”

“Not personally,” Kara replied.

“The General has a twin sister, Kassamia.  If Kassamia finds out he’s missing, she is very likely to involve herself in the mission, without warning.”

“I will keep that in mind,” Kara said, “thank you for the warning.”

“May the Force be with you, Knight Saje, Commander.”

“And with you,” Kara said.

As soon as the communication line broke, Zip turned to Kara, “Sir, why didn’t you correct General Mundi?”

“About who you were?”  Kara asked, “Because I shouldn’t have to.  Even if he was in a hurry, Master Mundi should have noticed your uniform had captain’s markings, not commander.  Besides, I’m the one who didn’t wait for Saneone to be here.  Now, I need to check with Captain Sei’lar to make sure he’s got the coordinates to where we’re going, and I need you to make sure that we have the appropriate weather supplies.  If you see Saneone on your way, tell him that I would respectfully like his company in my conference room in half an hour.”

“Understood,” Zip said and left.

Kara headed up to the bridge feeling a little better with herself.  She’d needed a good mission, clearly, something to pull her mind out of the troubles she’d found.  Keeping busy would also keep her from focusing on the other aspect of her mission.  It had been months since she’d seen the 138th, she wondered how upset they were going to be when they realized who was handling their rescue mission.  She hadn’t been in the best frame of mind to say goodbye after Master Honso had died, and she hadn’t considered the possibility that she’d run into them again out here.


	2. Rescue Run 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zip rescues one of Kara's old friends.

Thesme wasn’t much to write home about.  The section they were landing in was near desert, and so was mostly sand and canyons, and heat.  Kara left Saneone to ferrying down their people while Blaze prepped the speeders for their run out.  Zip stood at her side as Kara walked a part of the perimeter.

“You’re tense, sir,” Zip said softly, “a bad feeling?”

Kara smiled at him, “No.  The 138th was Master Honso’s command.”

“Oh,” Zip said.

“I got so wrapped up in the 425th, I haven’t even tried to contact any of them,” Kara admitted.

“Well, we’ll get them back safe so you can talk to them,” Zip said.

Kara nodded, trying not to think of that image she’d drawn.  “Prepare for standard search patterns, I’ll see if I can’t correlate some locations.”

“We’ll be standing by,” Zip said.

Kara tucked her hands behind her back and opened her mind, sending her senses outwards through the planet.  There was a known sep presence on the world, which is why they had to work fast, but they also had to work well.  Still, it was easy to find the seven groups she’d been told of, so many of them still familiar to her alongside the unfamiliar bonfire of Jedi Bregan.

Once Kara locked those positions in her mind, she turned to Zip and his holomap, “All right, there are seven groups.”  Kara moved around the map, and touched the places that matched her mental scans.  “This is Jedi Bregan,” she finished.  “That’s where Knight Squadron will head with me.  The rest of them are yours.”

“Any trouble points?” Zip asked, studying the map.

Kara pointed, “I’m pretty sure the separatists are here, so getting these two groups out first will be your priority.”

“I’ll see that it’s done,” Zip said.  “What about the Commander?”

Kara closed her eyes, reminding herself to breathe.  “I want him to observe so that in the future things can be more expansive, if he makes suggestions, go ahead and take them in account, but you know the plan.  You have until we get back to the landing zone.”

“We’ll get them here,” Zip said with a smile.

Kara nodded to him and turned as Blaze approached.  “We’re ready General.”

“Let’s get moving,” Kara said.  “Who am I riding with?”

“Chip,” Blaze said, “as always.”

Kara nodded and turned back to Zip, “Bring them home, Captain.”

“Sir, yes sir,” Zip replied with a salute.

/././.\\.\\.\

Splitting six retrievals between three squads with limited air support was the kind of challenge that Zip had thought he’d never have to worry about after training.  Instead, he was here, trying to map points to allow for maximum effectiveness with half the resources they needed. His final solution was clearly going to have to be a bit more creative than the General would like, but it was the best course with their limited means.

He called together the sergeants and briefed them on their targets and discussed paths with them, and promised they’d have some back up if they needed it.  Then sent them to prepare their squads.  That done, Zip headed to find Screech and discuss that back up.

Screech had two of his squadron members setting up a small, easily collapsible infirmary in anticipation of incoming casualties.

“Why do I have the feeling you’re about to ask me for something, sir?”  Screech asked.

“Probably because I am,” Zip said.  “I may need to borrow part of your squadron to serve as back up out there if someone gets in over their head.”

“Of course,” Screech said, “keeps them from getting bored with the easy work, after all.”

“Are there complaints?”  Zip asked.

“Sometimes,” Screech said, “I’m sure the sergeant hears more than I do.”

“We’ll pin him down and talk to Kara then,” Zip said.  He looked up as the ships landed again, releasing the rest of the squads.  But they did not take off again.  “What are they doing?  Orbital standby is SOP.”

“Looks like the Commander didn’t get the order,” Screech said.

Zip closed his eyes, “What am I going to do, I can’t yell at the commanding officer.”

“I don’t know,” Screech said, “it seems to work for Swoop.”

“Well, Swoop has an advantage,” Zip said, “we both know the difference between being brothers and the chain of command.  I’ve never met Saneone, the only one of us who seems to have any knowledge is Chip.”

“Chip crawled out of bed with the intent of hiding when he found out,” Screech pointed out, unimpressed.

“I worked with Chip on Kamino,” Zip said, “I didn’t believe he was fazed by anything.”  He watched as Saneone headed over to the map table, and then retreated into the newly raised medical tent.

“What are you doing?”  Screech asked, following him.

“Not spying on my CO,” Zip replied.

“So, the fact that he seems to be summoning the team leaders to a meeting doesn’t matter?”  Screech asked.

“I’m not going to interfere,” Zip said.  “The General ordered those patterns, not me.”

“Does he know that?”  Screech pointed out.

Zip opened his mouth, realized that it was possible the Commander did _not_ know, and glanced at Screech, “I’m going to need to use some of your squad, if he’s done what I think he’s done.”

The door to the tent opened and Spitball came in, looking worried.  “Captain, the Commander’s overriding the General’s search patterns.”

Zip nodded slightly, “What about the General’s hot spots?”

“Most of them are going to be hit pretty quickly,” Spitball said, “but the two you were sending us to aren’t going to get hit, not in the time we’re probably going to get.”

“Follow the Commander’s orders, we’ll let the General sort him out,” Zip said, “I’ll handle the hot spots.”

“Are you sure?”  Spitball asked.

“Trust me,” Zip said, “it’ll be fine.”

“Yes sir,” Spitball said and left.

Zip turned to Screech, who sighed, “I’ll get Foggy to go with you with a couple of his people.  _K’oyacyi!_ ”

“ _K’oyacyi, vod_ ,” Zip said, hoping the words wouldn’t prove to be prophetic.

Zip managed to avoid the Commander by virtue of the fact that while he’d added a russet stripe to his _beskar’gam_ , so had many of his men and it was easy to blend in.  It was a tactic Zip had learned from the 429th’s Captain Tor, who, instead of reporting to Kara as their new General, had for reasons best left alone, opted to hide among the men in his company, who had willingly and willfully hidden him.  Soon, he had his half squad of Foggy, Kane, Domino, Jet, and Nines slipping out with the other groups, planning a meet up away from the Commander’s view.

“Sir,” Kane said, “I feel a bit uneasy about this.”

“The Commander did wrong,” Zip said, “but none of us have the authority to override him.  Instead, I’m following General Kara’s orders as best I can.  We need to slip out there, retrieve those men, and come back carefully.  There’s a possible enemy formation out there, which is why time is of the essence.  It’s very likely we’re going to see combat.  Let’s go.”

“Yes sir,” the five troopers said in unison.

It took them nearly two hours to get close to the first set of coordinates that General Saje had marked for them.  Zip stopped them and sent Jet to the top of a nearby hill to scan for life.  Not long after Jet left, Zip’s helmet comm activated.

“Captain Zip, this is Commander Saneone.”

Zip could feel his brothers’ attention coming onto him.  “Commander, this is Captain Zip.”

“Captain, Lieutenant Screech informs me you left camp?”

“Yes sir,” Zip said firmly.  “General Saje’s orders.”

“I see,” Commander Saneone said, “and you did not discuss this with me before hand?”

“Sir, the General stressed time was of the essence.  I am only following her orders as quickly as possible.”  Zip replied.  He glanced up as Jet came down the hill, “Forgive me sir, but this is not the best time to have a conversation.  It would be my pleasure to discuss this with you after the mission.”

“You can be sure of that,” Saneone said.

“With the General’s presence, of course,” Zip continued, and cut the comms before Saneone could add more.  “Jet, report.”

“Sir, I’ve got a large concentration of metal about three kilometers forward, shape registers as one of the pods, however, there are several droid signatures between here and there.”

“What’s the terrain like?”  Zip asked.

“Hills mostly, with a canyon on the far side of the pod, running north and south.  The pod is set on a mesa, defensible, but not ideal.”

Zip nodded, thinking of the holomap he’d studied.  The canyon and mesa were familiar, and beyond that was the droid encampment that he’d been warned of.  Zip tapped his chest piece for a moment, then nodded, “All right, gather around.”

Once everyone was in position, Zip said, “What do you think are the odds that canyon is droid free?”

“Very low,” Jet said.

“All right,” Zip said, “here’s the thing, we’ve got however many people from that pod to pull out, and a second group.  The plan here is to get in there, confirm it’s the pod, and survivors, and call down a gunship.”

“Can you do that?”  Domino asked.

Zip gestured upwards, knowing they couldn’t see his expression.  “Swoop’s one of the topside pilots, so’s Jumper.  I have the authority, and they’ll do it.”

“Is that why the 429th Captains didn’t like you, sir?”  Jet asked.

Zip shrugged, “I can’t say as to why the Captains didn’t especially care for me, Jet.  That would be their problem.”

“Beg pardon sir, but that’s not the impression that I got,” Jet said.

“That’s your choice,” Zip said.  “Now, we’re going in formation, hit hard, hit fast.  Try not to lose track of where you’re supposed to be.”

“Sir, there may not be an easy way up to the top,” Domino said.

Zip tilted his head, “If I remember the terrain maps from camp, there’s plenty of rough terrain to get us up there.  It’ll be rough, but possible.”

“How?”  Nines blurted out.

“The repulsers will react to the change in terrain by increasing output and lifting us up, it’s like jumping from point to point in a multilevel training exercise, just on speeders,” Zip said.  Realizing that the rest of them were just staring, he pulled his helmet off, “Look, three of my unit were pilots, they taught me to do this.  I’ve done it on different occasions in training.  Just, when we get to the mesa, line up behind me and focus on keeping in line.  That’s going to be hard when the jumping starts, but do as best you can.”

They all mounted their bikes and Zip took a deep breath, then lifted his hand in the move out gesture.  They shot out around the hill that had sheltered them and headed for the mesa.  Zip made himself focus on his own path, trusting his brothers to keep up and in formation as they moved.  It wasn’t a straight path, Zip carefully made sure to pick spots that would keep them off the horizon line, and although they shot through and past several groups of droids, Zip didn’t hear any blaster fire until they were nearly to the mesa.

He forces himself to ignore the shots, picking out his first rock, speeding up and letting the rock’s height jolt his speeder higher.  Then another rock and another, like jumping up a set of uneven stairs, clinging to the bike and forcing it on course more with arm strength and sheer will than any other option.  When they cleared the mesa’s top, Zip couldn’t keep himself from a triumphant grin.  Not only had he managed not to lose anyone, but before them was the pod they were searching for, along with two dozen troopers who were passing out guns and coming alert as Zip halted the bike.

One of the men, with a Commander’s markings, stepped forward, helmet off.  Zip got off the bike and pulled off his own helmet.  “Please tell me that you’re part of the 138th?”

“I’m Commander Night,” the commander agreed.

“I’m Captain Zip, 425th Search and Rescue.  We’re here to get you out.”  Zip said, offering his hand.

They exchanged a quick handshake, “You got any more of those bikes?”  Night asked.

“No,” Zip said, “we’re going to call down a gunship to get you straight up to the _Retrieval._   Once you’re secured, we have another pod in the hot zone to track down.”

“What about General Bregan?”  Night asked.

Zip hoped he wasn’t about to set something off.  “General Saje is handling that personally.  She’ll have him on a gunship soon.”

“ _Saje?_ ”  Night said, catching attention of all his men, “Kara Saje?”

“Yes sir,” Zip said, glad he’d been warned.  “She’s our General.  I understand she was your Commander.”

“She was,” Night agreed.  “She- she’s been Knighted then?  Good for her.”

Zip nodded slightly, “I need to call the gunship, Commander, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Go ahead,” Night said.

As Zip pulled on his helmet to signal Swoop, he saw the 138th men encircling Foggy, Kane, Domino, Jet, and Niner, no doubt questioning them about Kara.  “Lieutenant Swoop, do you copy?”  Zip asked.

“Captain?”  Swoop replied, “What’s up?”

“Are you standing by for the General?”  Zip asked.

“No sir, I put Feathers on that duty,” Swoop said.

“Good, I need you to track me and land to pick up two dozen 138th troopers for extraction to the retrieval.”  Zip said.  He hesitated a moment, “Their Commander, Night, might want to hit the LZ to keep track of his men, so do that if he asks.”

“Night a bastard?”  Swoop asked.

“No,” Zip said, “but the 138th used to be commanded by General Saje’s Master before he died.”

“Oh boy,” Swoop said, “awkward.”

“Let’s just say that I hope he’s enough of a bastard to plant one on Saneone if need be,” Zip admitted.

“Right,” Swoop agreed.  “I have your location, I’m beginning my approach.  Did you know you had a large group of droids approaching from the south.”

“I figured it was too quiet,” Zip said, “ _K’oyacyi!”_

 _“K’oyacyi!”_   Swoop replied.

“Commander,” Zip called, “gunship’s incoming, but we’ve also got a lot of clankers to the south.”

“Right,” Night said, “I want Jester and Punch on the North and West, Bitter, take the East.  Everyone else, let’s watch the South.  We’ll be out soon.”

“Sergeant, take your orders from the Commander if we come under fire,” Zip said.

“Understood sir,” Foggy said, moving to join the group on the south side of the mesa.  Zip turned back to the speeder bikes, bringing them up enough that he could move them, one by one, into the shelter of the pod.  It would be better to protect them for his own people’s mission, rather than run the risk of a lucky shot.  Soon enough, Swoop would be there, and they could get their rescued brothers to safety, and then it was across the desert to the second location.  Watching as Commander Night set one of his men to snipe the clankers, Zip hoped they’d make it on time.


	3. Rescue Run 2

When the gunship carrying the 138th troopers lifted away, Zip set Foggy to looking for useful salvage while he made use of the shuttle’s slightly damaged scanners.  One of the few things actually working was a confirmed location for their second target.  With that, Zip was able to begin to plan the next part of their trip, including getting a printout of the terrain between them and their next target.

“These clankers are getting closer,” Jet called from where he was watching the south side of the mesa.

“Foggy, what do we have, anything good?”  Zip asked, tucking the printout away in his belt.

“I’ve got extra power packs and a couple of packs full of charges, sir,” Foggy replied.

“Everyone grab a pack,” Zip ordered, “make sure you’ve got fresh packs for your blasters and let’s get moving.”  He checked the survival gear and grabbed a pair of dark blankets.  Realizing that Foggy was watching him, Zip shrugged and said, “I get cold.”

They mounted up and Zip led the way off the mesa, heading northwest towards their next target.  The desert this way was far more uneven than their original path out, and Zip was careful to keep them off the skylines.  He’d learned that one the hard way, courtesy of the Fett.  It had been one of his few losses in the training exercises in the last year before Geonosis.

Perhaps it was the thought of Geonosis, or the glint of the sun off of metal, but Zip found himself signaling for a halt, and silence.  They were in a low wash and Zip slid off his bike quietly, shaking out one of the blankets and draping it over the top of his helmet and down his back, holding it at his throat like a cloak.  Then he crawled up the side of the wash, dropping flat as he cleared the top.  Behind him, he could practically hear Foggy’s realization of what the blankets were for.  White armorplast was distinctive, and it reflected the light.  Useful when you had a couple hundred or thousand in formation, preparing for battle.  It was intimidating even to friendlies, or so Zip had observed.  White armorplast when scouting was a headshot waiting to happen, and Zip had a General expecting him to come back.

Zip scanned the horizon quickly and bit his lip to keep from cursing before he eased back down and gestured everyone close.

“Tank,” he said.

“What?”  Foggy asked.

“Just the one?”  Jet asked.

“In the middle of the path we need to take,” Zip replied.

“Can we go around?”  Foggy asked.

“No time,” Jet pointed out.

Zip considered for a moment, trying to work out the way through with minimal casualties on his side.  They’d been lucky on the mesa, no one was injured.  Now he had to hang onto that luck.  His next target was not going to be as easy.  He considered his team as well.

“Jet,” Zip said, “you’re with me.  Foggy, set our bikes up to be towed.  We’re going to go deal with the tank.  When it blows up, come get us.”

“Are you sure?”  Foggy asked.

“I’m sure,” Zip said, he gestured, “Jet, are you ready?”

“Do we have enough explosives, do you think?”  Jet asked.

Zip chuckled, “I’m pretty sure we’ve got enough.  Now, let’s go.”

The two troopers moved down the wash, keeping their heads down.  Zip counted their steps, converting them in his head to the proper distance they needed to move.  When they’d gone far enough, he led the way out of the wash.  Their next cover was a small collection of desert plants that had wide, flat pieces and thorns.  There was enough of them for the pair to use as cover and still see how the tank was positioned between two rapidly rising hillocks that stretched at least a mile in either direction.

Zip also spotted a cluster of boulders that would do for their next cover and pointed them out to Jet, who nodded.  They ran for the rocks, and Zip pulled off his helmet so he could take a careful look to see if they’d been spotted, but nothing moved or had changed.

“Now what?”  Jet murmured.

“Now, you take some of those charges around onto the far hill,” Zip said, “you’ll be targeting whatever is behind the hill.  If you can, if the terrain is right, try to roll them down.  It should be okay if some of them get caught on the hill, just try to get them placed to cause damage and disorientation.  I’ll handle the tank.”

“How?”  Jet asked.

Zip smiled grimly, “By getting the rest of the charges underneath it and blowing them up remotely.”

“How are you going to do that?”  Jet asked.

“The same way you’re going to,” Zip said, “I’m going up the other hill and rolling them down.  Just remember that when you’re done, you fall back to the wash.  Don’t wait for me, just get back there, understood?”

“Understood sir,” Jet said.

While Jet made his way to his target location, Zip made sure he synched his charges to three different remotes.  Then he carefully made his way around to the hill he was going to climb.  He eased up it, watching his HUD and listening for any signs of alarm from the guards.  Once he was on top, he realized that he was very lucky, the tank had no hatch on top.  He could, if he aimed properly, drop some of his charges into the tank.

First, he carefully started some of the ball shaped charges down the hill, watching as they slid underneath the tank.  After all the charges wired to his first remote were under the tank.  Zip carefully bundled the second bundle of charges and eased forward on the hill until he could drop them carefully into the tank.  Then he turned and slid down the hill, using the command HUD settings to check that Jett was on his way back to the others.  Zip took the second remote and activated it, blowing up the inside of the tank, then he broke cover and sprinted back towards the others as even more explosions started.

When he reached the wash, Zip set off the first remote, twisting back to watch as the combined explosion lifted the tank in the air before dropping it in several pieces.  He allowed himself a teeth baring grin of triumph as he ran to rejoin his men.

“Good shot,” Jett said.  “There weren’t tanks, but a couple of those big clankers.  I managed to ding their feet with detonators, so we should be clear.”

“Let’s move then,” Zip said as he mounted his bike.

They shot out of the wash and between the two hills, gaining speed as they swept away from the remaining droids.

The second shuttle had clearly crashed, leaving a somewhat impressive debris field.  They pulled up beside the largest piece of rubble and Zip sighed.

“Where do you think they are?”  Foggy asked.

“They probably went to take cover,” Zip said, looking around.  “All right, let’s play this smart, park the bikes inside the shuttle and team up.  We’re going to walk out a spiral to a hundred feet.  Don’t shout, but don’t run silent, we want them to know we’re here to help.”

They hid the bikes and Zip sent Foggy to lead the clockwise spiral with Domino and Kane, while he took Jet and Nines counter-clockwise.  The area here was uneven enough that Zip had to let Foggy get out of sight, trusting that the Sergeant remembered his training and would keep them alive until they could again see them.

“So,” Jet said, “what is the deal with Saneone and Chip?”

“Have you asked him?”  Zip asked dryly.

“I haven’t been able to get him alone,” Jet admitted.

“Chip subbed for Saneone on Kamino,” Nines said, “His brothers didn’t take it so well.  I’m not sure if you’ve had much to do with them yet, Captain, but I was there when Saneone came back.  Chip straight up told Fenn Rau, and the rest of the trainers who were there, that those four needed a warning label, so that their generals would know they were trickster imps dedicated to the creation of mischief and chaos, and that Saneone was literally the only one sane enough to handle them.  They liked the labels so much, they stuck.”

“Nice,” Jett said.

“How do you know this?”  Zip asked.

“Same batch, sir,” Nines said, “I grew up with them.”

“Think the General’s found the Jedi yet?”  Jett said after a long moment.

Zip considered, “Soon, if she hasn’t yet.  She had some distance to run out there.  I know she wanted to run this one fast, which is why we’re rushing too.  Just got to find this set and get them out of here.”

“Congratulations, you found us Captain.”

Zip turned, and nodded slightly, “Captain.”  He stepped forward and offered his hand, “I’m CC-2976, call me Zip.”

“CC-1516, call me Fritz,” the other Captain said, taking his arm in a quick grip.

“Nines, get Sergeant Foggy on the comm and get him over here,” Zip said over his shoulder.

“On it,” Nines said, pulling back a bit so that he could make the call.

“We’re with the 425th Search and Rescue,” Zip said, “here to pull you out of this mess.”

“We’ve got wounded,” Fritz said, “our medic included.”

Zip nodded once, “We’re going to call in a gunship for the evac.  Our CMO’s dirtside, but we’ve got a fleet medic onboard, he’ll take care of your people.”

“No medic,” Fritz said after a moment.

“The 425th was nearly wiped out during an engagement a few months ago.  We’re rebuilding, but at the moment we’ve only got two field certified medics.  One of them is with our General, handling the retrieval of your General.  The other is at the landing zone, because most of your guys are being brought there for evac.  This area’s a hot zone, so we’re putting you on the gunship.”

“The General’s alright?”  Fritz asked.

“General Saje said he was alive,” Zip said, “she didn’t pick up any hints of pain from him when she did that Force tracking she does.”

“Force tracking?”  Fritz repeated.

“How do you think we found you?  General Saje uses the Force to find everyone, then she handles the general while we get everyone else.”  Zip said.

“You keep saying, do you mean it’s _Kara_ Saje?”  Fritz said.

“There it is,” Jett muttered.

Zip turned, “Why don’t you get Jumper down here?”

“Sir yes sir,” Jett said dryly and moved to join Nines.

“Yes, it’s General Kara Saje,” Zip said, “your old Commander.”

“She got their Search and Rescue team,” Fritz said, sounding happy, “General Ohnaka and Commander Saje used to spend hours at night trying to come up with new arguments to take to the council about it.  After the General died and the Commander was recalled, we all hoped she’d get what she wanted.  She tried, you know, but she wasn’t made for war.”

“Not our kind,” Zip agreed.  “Give her a mystery, she’ll sink her teeth in like a mynock though.”

“Now that, I wouldn’t know,” Fritz said.

Zip couldn’t help the chuckle, “When we get off this rock, next time we meet, I’ll tell you about Aurin.”

“I’ll buy you a drink,” Fritz said.

“Gunship’s incoming,” Nines reported, “and the Sergeant’s almost here.”

“Let’s get your people ready to load up,” Zip said.

“Thanks,” Fritz said.  He led them into a cave where a dozen men were waiting.  Four of them were prone on the floor, wrapped with bandages, while six of the others were sitting, and the final two were standing, blaster rifles pointed at the floor.

“Captain?”  One of the rifle bearers asked.

“This is Captain Zip and his men with the 425th Search and Rescue,” Fritz said.  “There’s a gunship incoming to get us, get ready to move out.”

“The general, sir?”  The other rifle bearer asked.

“Alive, status unknown,” Fritz replied.  “The 425th’s general is in the process of securing him.  I’m pleased to inform you that said general is no other than our former Commander, Kara Saje.”

That got a reaction, the men, even one of the wounded, sat up straighter, and the few without helmets were beginning to smile. 

“Is she doing it alone?”  One of the seated men ventured as he stood up.

“The General’s got a squad with her,” Zip said gesturing for Nines to stay by the cave mouth and let the others find him.  “First day she took command, her first order was for a squad to be her back up at all times in the field.  Knight Squad’s her PSD, back-up, and primary assistance when she needs it.”

“Just a squad?”  One of the others said.

“The 425th was decimated in a campaign on Fer II, we were down to fifty men at the time.  We’re up to sixty-five now, with more squads coming in.  We don’t have the men, or the resources, to assign her a full company.  When she needs it, she’ll take a second squad.”  Zip said as his men followed him in.  “Now, we need to move, medical’s waiting to receive you on the _Retrieval,_ and we need to report back to base.  If you’re walking, walk.”

“These four will need carrying,” Fritz said, indicating the four prone men.

They moved the men out of the cave, to a nearby hilltop where Jumper’s gunship waited for them.  “Take them straight up,” Zip told Jumper, “they’ve got wounded and walking wounded.”  He glanced at where Fritz was checking that the stretchers were secure.  “And take care of Captain Fritz.  He’s a friend.”

“You got it,” Jumper said.  “I didn’t see any signs of clankers in the area, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Damn straight,” Zip said.  “We’ll see you at the LZ.”

 _“K’oyacyi,”_ Jumper said.

Zip nodded to Fritz as he left the gunship, backing off to allow for the ship to take off with his half-squad around him.

“All right,” Zip said, “let’s go get the bikes.”  They headed back to the wreck and began pulling their bikes free.  “We’re headed straight back to base,” Zip told the team, “If the Commander tries to make an issue about your participation in this mission, be polite, but insistent that it was the General’s orders.  Don’t let him.”

Fire exploded in his back and side, the specific kind of pain that came from blaster fire.  As Zip stumbled forward, then fell to his knees, he heard Foggy shouting and then the sound of blasters opening up around him.  Zip tried to force himself to stand, straightening up for a moment before something else hit his back and knocked him to the ground.  Zip could see Foggy and the others crouched behind some of the shuttle scrap, firing.  That was the last thing he remembered.


	4. Return

Jett swore as he saw the second shot hit the Captain and he collapsed.

“Cover me,” he snapped to Nines and ran to pull Zip under cover.  “Don’t you die on us,” Jett whispered as he adjusted Zip so that his head was turned to the side and he could see the cracked and burned armor.  The first shot had hit Zip at the joint, and the second had taken advantage of the damage.

Jett dug through his belt and came up with a couple of bacta patches that hadn’t been handed over to the 138th.  He put them over the worst of Zip’s injuries and drew back when Zip moved and moaned.

“Easy, sir,” Jett said.  “You’ve been shot.”

“I noticed,” Zip grumbled.

“We need to get out of here,” the Sergeant called, “Captain, if you’re passenger, can you hold on?”

“Try and stop me,” Zip replied.  He shifted, trying to get up, then collapsed with a groan.  “Just, help me get up first.”

“You got it,” Jett said.

It took a lot of swearing, and Nines coming over to help but they eventually got Zip kneeling and then onto one of the bikes.  Kane came over, “I’m lightest,” he said, “I’ll drive him.”

“Right,” Foggy said as they all pulled back inside the shuttle where the bikes waited.  “When we bust out, you keep going, no matter what.  We’ll be behind you, but you get the Captain back to Screech.”

“Sir, yes sir,” Kane said as he slid in front of Zip.

“Let’s go,” Foggy ordered as they mounted their bikes.  “Nines, Jett, go first, draw the fire, Kane, follow them, the rest of us take tail.  Once we’re clear, let Kane through ahead of you.”

Jett saluted as Nines nodded sharply, then the pair carefully eased their bikes out of cover.  Once they were sure not to cause problems for the others, they opened up the throttle and began firing back at the droids between them and the landing zone.

About a mile out, they were clear enough that Jett and Nines moved to the side to let Kane shoot through, Zip clinging to him.  Jett silently wished them safe passage even as he and Nines opened up their own throttles to try and keep up.  Kane had been one of the last victims of the flu they’d all experienced, and on top of that was in some ways smaller than most of the brothers in terms of muscle mass.  Even carrying double, he was ahead of them and slowly pulling away.

The rest of them made the trip back slightly slower, but still arrived while Zip was being hauled off by Screech.

“Did you get who you were sent after?”

Jett turned to find the Commander standing over Foggy, displeasure conveyed cleared in his stance and tone.

“Captain Zip said we did, sir,” Foggy replied.  “General’s orders were to make sure those two groups got out of that hot zone, so we got them out.”

The Commander shook his head slightly, “I understand it was the General’s orders.  You’re not going to face repercussions for this.”

Foggy wanted to demand to know if Zip would get in trouble, but there was something in the Commander’s eyes that made him hesitate.  “With your permission, sir, with the Lieutenant in medical, Home Squad command devolves to me.  I should check on things.”

“Granted,” the Commander said.  “Last we heard, the General had located General Johannason and was making the extraction.”

“Understood,” Foggy saluted.  He turned to find that the rest of his half-squad had taken the speeders away and he smiled a little.  A sergeant’s role was to get yelled at by the officers, but it was nice to know your troops liked you enough to take care of things without being ordered to.  When you got these types of promotions, the _Cuy’val Dar_ used to tell stories, about how troopers would only do precisely what was ordered, and nothing more, even when common sense said they should.  Officers and noncoms who had alienated their people so thoroughly that orders had to be precise detailed, and cover every step to ensure things got done.

Foggy shook his head slightly and headed for the boxes containing the general gear that would be needed if they were running a multi-day rescue.  Time to get that put back on a gunship to go up.

They were re-packing the kitchen when the Commander showed up, “How much longer is this going to take?”

“Sir,” Foggy said, “We’ve just got the last of the kitchen supplies, and then medical, but Lieutenant Screech is still with the troopers who were ambushed.  He threw a bedpan at me, so I’m guessing maybe a half hour.”

“A bed pan?”  The Commander said.

“Yes sir,” Foggy said, “On the Screech scale of necessary time, it means we’ll be packed and ready in a half hour.”

The Commander paused for a moment, then shook his head, “I just heard from the General, they’re in the air, so we need to pack up and move out.”

“Is there an ETA on General Saje’s return?”  Foggy asked, trying to decide how much of Screech’s supplies they’d have repacked before she got there.

“She’s not returning,” Commander Saneone said, “I told you, they’re already in the air.”

Foggy almost argued with him, almost told him that the General always came back to the LZ before they left, but remembered that Zip had let it ride before.  Whatever issues there were would be straightened out by the General herself.  If the Commander couldn’t be bothered to ask about standard procedure with the 425th, then it was better for the General to straighten it out.

“Understood,” Foggy said, “I’ll just go see how Lieutenant Screech is coming along.”  Hopefully Captain Zip would be coherent enough to give him advice on this one.

Unfortunately, the Captain was still sleeping off a dose of painkillers, and while Foggy did manage to get Screech to speak to him, ‘Let him hang himself’ was not very helpful instructions, although given that Screech had just finished tending to the last of the injured, it was probably understandable.  All Foggy could do was check that the evac of the 138th troopers was on schedule and start the evac of the 425th.  He kept Home Squad with him, switching from the kitchen supplies to the medical supplies once he was sure Screech was ready for them to move them.

The packing up took almost all of the half hour that Foggy had reported to the Commander, and shortly thereafter, the Commander lifted off with Home Squad on board, the last ship to leave.  They were just clearing atmosphere when the general comm clicked on.

“Captain Zip, this is General Saje, please come back.”

“Captain Zip is in medical, General,” the Commander announced after a moment.

“Ah, so then you took charge after the Captain’s injury?”  Saje asked after a moment.

“The Captain left the landing zone to rescue high priority targets, on your orders.  I assumed command,” the Commander replied.

“Did you ask anyone about our standard operating procedures for rescue missions?”  Saje asked.

Foggy glanced at his brothers, all of them were listening, and confused.

“Sir?”  The Commander asked.

“I’ll take that as a no,” Saje replied.  “Lieutenant Swoop, are you on comms?”

“Yes General,” Swoop said promptly.

“How’s your ship?”  Saje asked.

“Just unloaded the last of the medical supplies,” Swoop said.

“Excellent,” Saje said.  “Commander Saneone, you are to proceed _directly_ to the _Retrieval._ Once you are there, you are to proceed directly to your quarters and remain there.  You will give no orders, you will receive no visitors.  Sergeant Foggy?”

“Yes sir,” Foggy said.

“I want a three-man rotation on the Commander’s door until I order otherwise, do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” Foggy said.

“Now, Lieutenant, I am ordering you to get in your gunship, get back down here and retrieve me and my squad so we can depart this system before the Separatist Navy shows up.”

There was a very long moment of silence.

“Sir, yes sir,” Swoop finally managed, “on my way now.”

“Thank you,” Saje said sweetly.  “Commander, in case it wasn’t clear by now, you are most definitely to consider yourself on report.”

“Understood sir,” the Commander said.

Foggy closed his eyes a moment, then looked at his people as he pulled his bucket off.  “Hash, Happy, Brains, you’re on the Commander.  Escort him up and keep it that way.  If his demons come looking for him make sure they know it’s General’s orders.  If they persist, report it back to me and I’ll handle it.”

“Do you think you can?”  Kane murmured.

Foggy smirked, “I’m going to commander Chip to handle them.  He’s got experience, apparently.”

“He’s going to murder you,” Nines said.

“Eh, I’ll live,” Foggy said.

They landed on the ship and Foggy watched as his chosen three followed the Commander away from the ship.  He could still remember the General’s orders about the chain of command, and the terror he’d felt upon learning that _he_ was to be the highest ranked among the sergeants.  It wasn’t that he didn’t understand why, it was that Foggy hadn’t ever wanted company command.  It was a lot of responsibility that he wasn’t sure he wanted.

Still, the General was trusting him to do this, so Foggy got to work.  The gunships were unloaded, places were found for the 138th until they could be transferred to some other base.  There were men in medical to be checked over, including the Captain, and finally, the General was back.

“Foggy, good work,” Saje said, when he met the General outside the medical bay.

“Thank you, sir,” Foggy said, saluting.

“Give Swoop the rundown on what’s been accomplished, and then take some downtime.  I understand you went out with Zip for those rescues.”  Saje added.

“I will sir,” Foggy said.

***

After assuring herself that Zip would recover, Kara stopped by her quarters to clean up and change into something a bit more Jedi-style than her armor, and headed to her office.  She would have to debrief Saneone soon, but first, she sighed to find there were three datapads in the room.  She picked the first one up as she sat down, and couldn’t help her smile.  It was confirmation from Master Windu about some promotions she’d asked for.  Not Zip’s, of course, but some other well-deserved promotions.  The second was a message from Asara and her new Padawan Miko Asan, Kara couldn’t help but laugh at the two of them, covered in slime.  The boy looked properly ashamed of himself and Asara was laughing.  Setting the datapad aside to finish looking at later, Kara picked up the final pad.

Three read throughs later, and Kara was no longer smiling.  Instead, she was reading a single paragraph a fourth time.

_It is not yet proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but the destruction is consistent with four other attacks in which there was no survivors, one of which was the command held by Saneone prior to his reassignment to you.  The Commander and his unit were providing escort for their Padawan-Commander, Miko Asan, when the attack happened and were therefore not present.  Attached to this message is all the information we have gathered so far.  We request you consider this information, as well as other sources available to you, and provide us with your recommendations on the matter.  Your recommendations, combined with those of the rest of the Jedi, will be taken into account as we move forward on this matter._

Clutching the datapad, Kara stood up and hurried from her office, taking the fastest way she knew to the quarters assigned to Saneone.

With a nod to his guards, Kara rang the door chime.  After a long moment, the Commander opened the door.  He was wearing a ship-side uniform, and seemed resigned to Kara’s appearance.

“Commander,” Kara said, “we need to talk.”

“Of course,” Saneone said, “come on in.”

Kara stepped inside and let the door shut behind her.  “We’ll discuss what happened today later.  I received messages from Coruscant while we were planetside.  This one mentions you and your old command.”

“My old command is gone,” Saneone said wearily.

Kara nodded, “One of five such attacks.”

“Another one,” Saneone said.

“General Plo Koon, a member of the Jedi High Council, and his command, the 104th, were completely wiped out in the Abregado System, no survivors.  The Council is asking me, along with other Jedi, to provide our conclusions and recommendations on the matter.”  Kara held out the datapad, “I understand that it will be difficult for you to discuss what was lost, Commander, but anything you can tell me would not go amiss.”

“Of course,” Saneone said, “anything I know is yours.”

Kara nodded, then hesitated, “If it helps, Padawan Miko Asan has a new Jedi Master now.  She’s a friend of mine named Asara.  He’s healing.”

Saneone nodded, “It helps, General.”  He paused, “I was told the 138th was your old command, before you were promoted.  I’m sure they’d also like to speak with you.”

“Maybe I will,” Kara said, “once we’re done discussing this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... to those who wonder WHY. It's called a plot, and I have one. It's just going to take a bit before I start the next piece. I have too many WIP going (as per usual) and I don't want to start another one. (She says on the same day she started another new fic...)

**Author's Note:**

> The Amaranths, Kassimia and Lyzander, are original characters brought in to play a role.


End file.
